Young Colorado players can’t be afraid of mistakes, Bieniemy says

BOULDER — Colorado offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy said one thing he has noticed three games into the season is that the Buffs’ young players are afraid of making mistakes.

The game of football can’t be played that way, he said.

“Yes, a mistake can be huge,” Bieniemy said during preparations for Saturday’s Pac-12 opener between the Buffs (0-3) and Washington State (2-1) in Pullman, Wash. “But like I always tell those guys, ‘Those pretty, designed lines in their playbook are not designed to go the way they are planned, to become a football player. They are a framework to get you started.’

“At the end of the day, they still have to go play. Just because a line (in X’s and O’s) shows this, and just because (the opponent’s) linebacker shows this, he’s going to improvise and adjust, and we have to improvise and adjust.”

Kensler joined The Denver Post in 1989 and has covered a variety of beats, including Colorado, Colorado State, golf, Olympics and the Denver Broncos. His brush with greatness: losing in a two-on-two pickup basketball game at Ohio State against two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.